Strategic Initiatives: Immigration

Houston’s Economic Future: Immigration

The Center began working on immigration in 2017, focusing on the economic importance of immigrants and immigration to the future success of our region. We convened focus groups, discussions, created an economic model and featured Don Graham and Gaby Pacheco of TheDream.US at our 2017 Dinner and Conversation. Since, we have continuously engaged with a broad group of collaborating organizations to address immigration issues, particularly through the lens of Houston’s long-term economic outlook.

We published a groundbreaking 2019 report and followed with a 2021 update, titled Houston’s Economic Future: Immigration. Each elaborates on how Houston's economic growth is intertwined with its demography. We discuss how immigration has historically fueled the region's economy and why it will be key to our economic future. In fact, virtually no other region of the country will be affected by immigration more than Greater Houston.

The report and update featured an economic forecasting tool that analyzes how changes in immigration would affect the region's economy. The findings show curtailing immigration would significantly depress economic growth.

These publications – along with the work done by our partners such as Rational Middle – act as springboards for a community-wide discussion on and support for immigration as an economic asset to the region.

Collaborative Partners and Projects

Rational Middle and the Center for the United States and Mexico (CUSMX) at Rice University’s Baker Institute have been among our closest collaborators on immigration. The Center worked with these organizations to produce a series of short documentaries, crafted by Rational Middle, to present the facts on immigration and frame them with historical context and personal stories. These videos focus on the challenges facing our country through the eyes of immigrants, municipalities, researchers, business owners, and citizens on the ground who find themselves confronted with this issue.

The Center and CUSMX also collaborated on immigration workshops and summits that featured national scholars and experts. We continue to promote research and fact-based analysis of the need for a rational immigration policy to support economic growth.

In 2020, we hosted a series of webcasts on immigration intended to advance the conversation about immigration and its economic importance in Houston and Texas.